Monthly Archives November 2014

A rare picture, published just last January, which seems to be the oldest photograph of San Fiurenzu (Saint-Florent)  known to this day

One notices immediately that the Strada Nova is not yet built (buildings built in the eighteenth century and are now at several meters from the sea, but had once upon a time their feet in the water) – however, it will be achieved between 1892 and 1896 to facilitate trade through the port.

But what is most interesting is the presence in this photograph of the defensive system protecting the entrance to the village: “a torra” (right) supporting one of the city gates still operating in the 1860’s and defensive

The Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in Bastia:

Thanks to donations from Count Sébastien Grégori, the building started in 1913 and was inaugurated on December 3rd 1916 by the Bishop of Ajaccio, Augustin Simeone before being consecrated, and the inscription was placed on top of the lateral door on March 4th, 1917. It had been built to become the new port’s district parish church, which was in full expansion at the end of the XIX century.

Affected by the bombings of 1943, the vault and the original stained glass windows were lost, and only the dominating statue of Our Lady of Lourdes remaining intact in the grotto. At the end of the war, it was restored and reopened on June 30th, 1946.

The first parish priest and founder Canon Eugène Leschi, lies in rest in the crypt, behind St...